An elective course in Waste & Environment Management and a PG Diploma in Waste Management that includes internship will be introduced in January next year for those who would like to take up a career in the field of Swachhata (cleanliness) mission. This move will also supply human resource to the emerging field of cleanliness. The plans were disclosed by the union minister of HRD, Prakash Javadekar, while speaking on the occasion of Swachhata Rankings awards ceremony held on October in New Delhi..
This year’s Rankings by the department of higher education have also brought out some very significant and interesting features of Swachhata in campuses of HEIs. Of all 6029 HEIs that applied, 2430 institutions have solar power in their campus and 940 more are under progress. This is nearly 56% solar coverage. 3577 institutions have rainwater harvesting facility – this is nearly 60% coverage. 5607 institutions out of 6000 have 24 hours running water. This is a 93% coverage. 3915 campuses have more than 30% green cover and this is 65% of the institutions. Some leading institutions have also upto 60% green cover. And 2557 institutions have full composting facility in their campuses and this is 42% of them.
This year best 51 higher education institutions (HEIs) out of 6029 that applied for Swachhata Ranking, have been awarded ‘green’ badge in eight categories– Universities ( Residential & Non-Residential), Colleges (Residential & Non-Residential), Technical Institutions (Universities – Residential), Technical Colleges (Residential & Non-Residential) and Government Universities. In all 205 institutions were shortlisted based on cut-offs. AICTE & UGC inspected all the 205 institutions.
Under residential university segment the top three universities are Symbiosis International University, Pune, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat and KLE Academy of Higher Education & Research, Belagavi. In non-residential university category the top three include ITM University, Raipur, The Northcap University, Gurugram and Dr. C.V. Raman University, Bilaspur.
Similarly the residential colleges that got recognition for green and clean campuses include MCMDAV College for Women, Chandigarh, PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore and St. Aloysius College, Mangalore. In non residential college cohort the top three honors are shared by Sri Parasakhti College of Education for Women, Courtallam, Madurai, Prince Academy of Higher Education, Sikar and Prince Shikshak Prashikshan, also from Sikar.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar are top three residential green technical residential universities whereas Panimalar Engineering College, Chennai, Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, and Sri Sai Ram Institute of Technology, Chennai fall under top three non-residential technical colleges in India,
In non-residential technical college category Easwari Engineering College, Chennai, Christ Institute of Management, and Ghaziabad, Mahatma Gandhi Mission’s Medical College, Mumbai have bagged the top three ranks.
From government sector Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi were declared the top three.
Village activity has been made a parameter with 10% weightage. Any institution that wants to be considered for rankings has to necessarily adopt a village or some villages and carry out hygiene & health related activities in it.Parameters for a clean campus include student/toilet ratio, kitchen hygiene, availability of running water, modernity of toilet & kitchen equipment, campus green cover, garbage disposal in hostels and academic buildings, disposal techniques, water supply systems and also a certain weightage to whether the institutions has adopted any neighbouring locality or village to spread awareness & activities in Swachhta.
Speaking on the occasion, Prakash Javadekar said that cleanliness must be a habit in students and it can be developed only in educational institutions, therefore Ministry is promoting and rewarding cleanliness efforts of educational institutions.
